Discuss the impact of television on myth, legend, and folklore. Is the impact a positive one or a negative one? Are stories told on TV our future myths, legends, and folklore? You explored several methodologies about the study of myth. None of the people who came up with these methodologies are alive today. What method would you come up with to study theGeoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is about a group of 14th century pilgrims from all walks
of life who travel together for several days on their way to a shrine in Canterbury. They entertain
each other on this journey by telling stories. The person who tells the most entertaining story wins
dinner at the local tavern, courtesy of the other story-telling pilgrims
Your task for this assignment is to create a contemporary version of The Canterbury Tales. This
means thinking of a fictional scenario in which a group of diverse people find themselves traveling
together for several days toward a common destination.
You will retell the General Prologue as the narrator, who encounters a group of at least four other
travelers headed toward the same destination. You can use the same story telling theme (the
travelers decide to see who can tell the best story, the winner wins a free dinner...) though you
don’t have to. Your travelers DO need to be engaged in some kind of similar game even if you
choose not to do story telling.
You can use characters from contemporary sitcoms, literature, films, etc. or archetypes (the jock,
the nerd, the cheerleader, the overachiever).
Think of the way the narrator sets up the General Prologue in The Canterbury Tales—he says he
will give his honest, objective opinions; he tells us the ways he will describe each character. You
need to do the same thing.
Before you begin writing, it will help to identify the following information for your story first. Answer
the questions below in a brainstorm/pre-write that you must turn in with your story.
Destination—Where will you characters be going? Why?
Game—What ―game‖ will they play en route to their destination? What does the winner get?
Mode of transportation—How will they be getting there? This needs to be a viable mode of
transportation to accommodate the narrator and at least 4 other travelers.
Characters—What archetypal characters will you use? Make sure you will be able to describe them as
Chaucer described his pilgrims. REMEMBER: The outward, physical appearance is representative of a
person’s inner character.
Your story should be at least two pages long. Make sure to include as many details as possible
in the same way that Chaucer did. Chaucer was able to assert his opinion and make social
criticisms by writing as ―the narrator.‖ Your story should do the same. myths, folklore, and legends that have evolved in the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries? American literary scholar Richard Altick, in his book A Preface to Critical Reading, said, “In the latter part of the 20th century, it is hard for us to realize how important a part mythology played in the imagination of writers and readers down through the ages. The gods and goddesses of Olympus, the heroes of ancient legend were as familiar to the people who created the literature of the western world as popular movie stars are to us. Their names had the power to evoke rich emotions, which sprang from the recollection of the wondrous stories in which these figures participated. Unless the modern reader can somehow re-create for herself the emotional experience a mythological reference brought to readers in earlier generations, her reading of non-contemporary literature will lack much of the pleasure and understanding it would otherwise possess.” Discuss this statement. Without an understanding of myth, can we fully understand and appreciate noncontemporary literature? If we can’t, then how can myth, legend, and folklore stay alive? Does it need to, or can we survive as a culture without it?